Programming the Microsoft .Net Framework with Visual Basic .Net

Introduction
The goal of this course is to help application developersunderstand the Microsoft .NET Framework. In addition to offering an overview ofthe .NET Framework and an introduction to key concepts and terminology, thecourse provides a series of labs, which introduce and explain .NET Frameworkfeatures that are used to code, debug, tune, and deploy applications.

Audience
This course is intended for experienced,professional software developers, including those employed by softwarecompanies or working on corporate development teams. Most students will be MicrosoftVisual Basic® developers.

At Course Completion
After completing this course, students will beable to:

List the major elements of the .NET Framework and explain how they fit into the .NET platform.

Explain the main concepts behind the common language runtime and use the features of the .NET Framework to create a simple application.

Create and use components in Microsoft Windows® Forms-based and ASP.NET-based applications.

Use the deployment and versioning features of the .NET runtime to deploy multiple versions of a component.

Create, use, and extend types by understanding the common type system architecture.

Create classes and interfaces that are functionally efficient and appropriate for given programming scenarios.

Use the .NET Framework class library to efficiently create and manage strings, arrays, collections, and enumerators.

Use delegates and events to make an event sender signal the occurrence of an action to an event receiver.

Describe and control how memory and other resources are managed in the .NET Framework.

Read from and write to data streams and files.

Use the basic request/response model to send and receive data over the Internet.

Serialize and deserialize an object graph.

Create distributed applications using XML Web services and object remoting.

Prerequisites
Before attending this course, students must beproficient in the Microsoft Visual Basic programming language and have beenexposed to the Visual Basic .NET language. Students can meet theseprerequisites by taking Course 2559 :Introduction to Visual Basic .NET programming.

Microsoft Certified Professional Exams
No Microsoft Certified Professional exams areassociated with this course.

Course Materials
The student kit includes a comprehensive workbookand other necessary materials for this class.

Course Outline
Module1: Overview of the Microsoft .NET Framework
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Overview of the Microsoft .NET Framework

Overview of Namespaces
After completing this module, you will be able tolist the major elements of the .NET Framework, including:

Describing the .NET Framework and its components.

Explaining the relationship between the .NET Framework class library and namespaces.

Module2: Introduction to a Managed Execution Environment
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Writing a .NET Framework Application

Compiling and Running a .NET Framework Application
After completing this module, you will be able toexplain the main concepts behind the common language runtime and use thefeatures of the common language runtime to create a simple application,including:

Creating simple console applications in Visual Basic .NET.

Explaining how code is compiled and executed in a managed environment.

Explaining the concept of garbage collection.

Module3: Working with Components
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

An Introduction to Key .NET Framework Development Technologies

Creating a Simple .NET Framework Component

Creating a Simple Console Client

Creating an ASP.NET Client
After completing this module, you will be able to createand use components in Windows Form-based and ASP.NET-based application,including:

Creating a simple .NET Framework component in Visual Basic.

Implementing structured exception handling.

Creating a simple .NET Framework console application that calls a component.

Creating a .NET Framework client application by using the Windows Forms library.

Creating an .ASP.NET page that uses the previously developed .NET Framework component to create an ASP.NET application.

Module4: Deployment and Versioning
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Introduction to Application Deployment

Application Deployment Scenarios

Related Topics and Tools
After completing this module, you will be able touse the deployment and versioning features of the .NET common language runtimeto deploy multiple versions of a component, including:

Packaging and deploying simple and componentized applications.

Creating strong-named assemblies.

Installing and removing assemblies in the global assembly cache.

Configuring applications to control binding based on assembly location and version data.

Module5: Common Type System
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Introduction to the Common Type System

Elements of the Common Type System

Object-Oriented Characteristics
After completing this module, you will be able to create,use, and extend types, including:

Describing the difference between value types and reference types.

Explaining the purpose of each element in the type system, including values, objects, and interfaces.

Explaining how the object-oriented programming concepts such as abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism, are implemented in the common type system.

Module6: Working with Types
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

System.Object Class Functionality

Specialized Constructors

Type Operations

Interfaces

Managing External Types
After completing this module, you will be able to createclasses and interfaces that are functionally efficient and appropriate forgiven programming scenarios, including:

Applying attributes to control visibility and inheritance in classes and interfaces.

Creating and using interfaces that define methods and properties.

Explaining how boxing and unboxing work and when boxing and unboxing occur.

Using operators to determine types at run time and to cast values to different types.

Explaining what features are available to work with unmanaged types, such as COM types.
Module7: Strings, Arrays, and Collections
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Strings

Collections Defined

.NET Framework Arrays

.NET Framework Collections
After completing this module, you will be able touse the .NET Framework class library to create and manage strings, arrays,collections, and enumerators, including:

Parsing, formatting, manipulating, and comparing strings.

Using the classes in the System.Array and System.Collections namespaces.

Improving the type safety and performance of collections by using specialized collections and class-specific code.

Module8: Delegates and Events
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Delegates

Multicast Delegates

Events

When to Use Delegates, Events, and Interfaces
After completing this module, you will be able touse delegates and events to cause an event sender to signal the occurrence ofan action to an event receiver, including:

Using the delegate class to create type-safe callback functions and event-handling methods.

Using the Event keyword to simplify and improve the implementation of a class that raises events.

Implementing events that conform to the .NET Framework guidelines.

Module9: Memory and Resource Management
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Memory Management Basics

Non-Memory Resource Management

Implicit Resource Management

Explicit Resource Management

Optimizing Garbage Collection
After completing this module, you will be able todescribe and control how memory and other resources are managed in the .NETFramework, including:

Describing how garbage collection manages object memory.

Implicitly managing non-memory resources by using a destructor's finalize code.

Explicitly managing non-memory resources by using client-controlled deterministic release of resources.

Writing code by using the temporary resource usage design pattern.

Programmatically controlling the behavior of the garbage collection.

Describing advanced garbage collection features.

Module10: Data Streams and Files
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Streams

Readers and Writers

Basic File IO
After completing this module, you will be able toread from and write to data streams, files, and the Internet, including:

Using Stream objects to read and write bytes to backing stores, such as strings and files.

Using BinaryReader and BinaryWrite objects to read and write primitive types as binary values.

Using StreamReader and StreamWriter objects to read and write characters to a stream.

Using StringReader and StringWriter objects to read and write characters to strings.

Using Directory and DirectoryInfo objects to create, move, and enumerate through directories and subdirectories.

Using the FileSystemWatcher objects to monitor and react to changes in the file system.

Explaining the key features of the .NET Framework's isolated storage mechanism.

Module11: Internet Access
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Internet Application Scenarios

The WebRequest and WebResponse Model

Application Protocols

Handling Errors

Security

Best Practices
After completing this module, you will be able to usethe .NET Framework classes to work with data over the Internet, including:

Using the basic request/response model to send and receive data over the Internet.

Using the System.Net classes to communicate with other applications by using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Socket Internet protocols.

Module12: Serialization
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Serialization Scenarios

Serialization Attributes

Object Graph

Serialization Process

Serialization Example

Deserialization Example

Custom Serialization

Custom Serialization Example

Security Issues
After completing this module, you will be able toserialize and deserialize an object graph, including:

Writing an application that serializes an object graph by using either a binary or a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) XML format.

Module13: Remoting and XML Web Services
The following topics are covered in this module:
Lessons

Remoting

Remoting Configuration Files

XML Web Services
After completing this module, you will be able to createdistributed applications by means of XML Web services and object remoting,including:

Writing and configuring distributed applications that use .NET Remoting.

Creating an XML Web service by using Visual Studio .NET and ASP.NET.

Consuming an XML Web service by using the Web Services Description Language tool (Wsdl.exe).